The New York Times called the film "a beat generation version"[2][3] of the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The film differs from the book in some of its plot elements and characterizations, and it takes place in contemporary Santa Monica rather than in 19th-century Russia.
Plot summary
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A California law student murders a pawnbroker, then matches wits with the detective on the case. However, his conscience finally catches up with him, and he confesses to the murder.
According to George Hamilton, director Denis Sanders "saw his project as a tragedy for the Beat Generation" and cast Hamilton because of his similarity to Tony Perkins.[4]
The film was completed early in 1958 but was released more than one year later.[4]
Reception
In a contemporary review for The New Republic, Stanley Kauffmann commented that "modern versions of classics are generally more clever than convincing because the very term 'classic' means a timeless work ... that need not be transplanted. ... [B]y reason of its attendant skills and an innocent, unpretentious earnestness of address, [the film] is a moderately interesting attempt to state the material of a vast symphony with a small jazz combination."[5]
Roger Corman later said that the film "lost me a lot of money."[6]
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